A simple summary on how to write an essay

A simple summary on how to write an essay. Includes 123 approach, 4 basic essay types, expanded 9 types of essays, and examples.

1. Essay Basics:
1-2-3 Approach
1.Introduction
Ask your question.
2.Body
Present your evidence.
3.Conclusion
Give your answer.

2. Review of 4 basic paragraphs
Descriptive Narrative



Expository Persuasive
1. What am I describing? 1. What story am I telling?
2. <Description points> 2. <Story points>
3. This is what I am describing. 3. This is how the story ends.

1. What do I want to tell you? 1. What would I want you to consider?
2. <Information points> 2. <Reasons/ persuasion points>
3. This is what I am telling you. 3. You should consider this.

3. Question Tools
●Question Words
○Who
○What
○When
○Where
○Why
○How
○What about What

4. Question Tools
●Key People/Items
○Actor/s
○Receiver/s
○Object/s noted/used/affected
●Key Actions
○Main Verb vs Verbals

5. 9 Paragraph Patterns & Template Questions
1.Narration
What is the story?
2.Description
What can we see/hear/smell/taste/touch
about this person/thing?
3.Illustration or Support
What are the points we can make about this topic?

6. 9 Paragraph Patterns & Template Questions
4.Comparison and Contrast
What are the similar points of the two topics?
What are the different points of the two topics?
5.Definition
What are the determining points of this topic?
6.Classification
What are the determining points that puts topics
into a certain group?

7. 9 Paragraph Patterns & Template Questions
7.Division or Analysis
What are the individual points that make up the topic?
8.Cause-and-Effect Analysis
What are the individual events that led to this outcome?
9.Process Analysis
What do we have to do to do what we have to do?
What do we do to make a certain thing happen?

8. Example 1
The only true fried rice recipe is no recipe at all. There are no measurements, no
exact instructions, no timer for how long something should sizzle in the pan. There
are only smells and feelings and memories. I learned to cook fried rice on the
rickety stool covered in Blues Clues stickers, surrounded by the scents of my
nainai’s Minnie Mouse apron, my yéyé’s cashmere sweater, or my mama’s
Pantene shampoo; in the comfort of our cozy condo and our sweltering Hángzhou
apartment; by watching the eggs crack over delicate china bowls, tossed and
stirred in woks using slanted wooden spatulas. We used however much leftover
rice we had, however many eggs we found appropriate, and a combination of
anything and everything or nothing sitting in the fridge.

9. Example 2
Charles Handy is critical of overemphasis on share price as the metric for
corporate success. He proposes that the purpose of a business "is not to make a
profit, full stop." Rather, it is to produce profit so the people in the business can do
what pleases them, their families, and others close to them and far away. Handy
argues that companies should be managed as communities, for that is what they
are: communities of employees organized to serve communities of customers.
When this is done using moral values, the system retains internal and external
integrity.